Earlier she described it as a "terrible incident", adding: "All my thoughts are with those who have been injured, their loved ones and the emergency services on the scene".

The head of Tell MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal, warned of reprisal attacks against Muslims following major Islamist terrorist incidents.

Speaking after a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee, May said extra police were being deployed following the attack, and pledged to particularly assess the security needs of mosques ahead of Eid, which comes at the end of the week.

Finsbury Park, in the London Borough of Islington, is a bustling, diverse area of north London with a strong Muslim community.

Kozbar complained that the "mainstream media" was unwilling to call the attack a terrorist incident for many hours.

Assistant Commissioner Basu also commended the group who detained the suspect until police arrested him.

He told BuzzFeed: "I think at least eight or 10 people got injured".

Video filmed immediately after the attack showed a Caucasian man being detained by police.

Someone in the crowd yelled to others not to harm the man while he was taken into custody.

The incident took place at 12.20am local time Monday (23.20pm GMT Sunday) after midnight prayers.

He said: "The leader of the mosque said "You do not touch him". No one! No one!"

- The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said "the appalling attack on Muslims in Finsbury Park is an attack on us all and on the culture and values of our country".

- The Prime Minister said police chose to treat the incident as aterror attack within eight minutes of receiving the first emergency call.

Some witnesses at the scene - near Finsbury Park Station and Arsenal's Emirates stadium - said more than one attacker may have been involved. "Now we know that there are other terrorists who have done exactly the same thing". Eyewitness Khalid Amin told BBC television that the van turned deliberately left and "just hit the people".

Eight people were taken to hospital and two were treated at the scene.

The attacker struck as the area was busy with worshippers who had been attending Ramadan night prayers at the mosque. "It is too early to state if his death was as a result of the attack", police commander Neil Basu said.

Britain's terrorist alert has been set at "severe" meaning an attack is highly likely.

Police say one person died when a van hit crowd of worshippers in north London and the Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the crash.